| ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: Sparkassen Cup on Ice, Day 3 |
The Sparkassen Cup on Ice in Gelsenkirchen (GER) concluded on Sunday with the Men's Free Program and the Exhibition Gala. Full results are attached and also directly available on the ISU Internet site on ww2.isu.org .
Men, Free Program
The Men produced an exciting finale on a high level and repeated exactly last year's result on the podium: Evgeni Plushenko of Russia won his third consecutive title at the Sparkassen Cup, Timothy Goebel (USA) took his second silver medal and China's Chengjiang Li claimed his second bronze.
Li skated first in the last flight and opened his program to the "Star Wars" soundtrack with an excellent quadruple toeloop-triple toeloop combination, followed by a quadruple Salchow. The Four Continents Champion went on to hit a triple Axel-triple toeloop combination, a triple loop and a triple Salchow, but he two-footed the triple Lutz and popped his second Axel. Li also produced good spins and was dynamic throughout the program. "I did better here than at my previous two competitions", Li commented. "My health is better now."
Next up was Alexander Abt (RUS), who put in a strong and flowing performance that featured two huge triple Axels (of which one was in combination with a triple toeloop), five more triples, good spins, including a series of three death-drops into a sit spin. The only glitch was a two-footed quadruple toeloop. Abt moved up to fourth overall.
Goebel, who stood in second after the Short, continued to perform on a high level. The US-Champion landed a quadruple Salchow-triple toleoop combination, a quadruple toeloop, a triple Axel-double toeloop combination and four more triples. The Judges awarded the US-Champion marks ranging from 5.6 to 5.9 for technical merit and from 5.6 to 5.8 for presentation. Goebel was satisfied with his skating. "I was very pleased with how I skated here overall. I skated both short and long better than at Skate America. Things are getting better, and I hope to improve during the season", he said.
Skating last, was overnight leader, Plushenko, who knew what he had to do. The reigning World Champion opened his program set to various movie soundtracks with his trademark quadruple toeloop-triple toeloop-double loop combination, he nailed a triple Axel-triple toeloop, an other triple Axel and four more triples. All his elements were very precise and right on the beat, as Plushenko also produced strong footwork. He received marks from 5.7 to 5.9 for technical merit and one 5.8 and six 5.9s for presentation. "I did all my elements today, as I had planned", the 19-year-old Russian told the press. "This was my first competition, I think I did very well, and I hope the season will continue like this." Plushenko decided not to reveal his new Olympic Free Program yet. "It's not completely ready yet", he explained. "Going out with a program that's not ready just isn't my level."
Takeshi Honda of Japan fell on his quadruple toeloop and triple Lutz to finish fifth. Three-time World Champion Elvis Stojko of Canada also missed his quad and doubled his second Axel and remained in sixth place.
Goebel now has 21 points overall and is currently heading the Men's standings of the Grand Prix series. Plushenko picked up 12 points and will skate to score again at the Cup of Russia. Li earned 7 points in Germany but had only two from Skate America and he will have to wait and see if this will be enough to qualify for the Final. Abt and Stojko now both have 12 points from their two events. The Sparkassen Cup was a non-scoring event for Honda.
The Sparkassen Cup was the third event of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating.
The Grand Prix of Figure Skating continues next week with the fourth event of the series, the Trophée Lalique, to he held in Paris (FRA).
Results Men FPl. Name Nat. Points SP FS 1 Evgeni PLUSHENKO RUS 1.5 1 1 2 Timothy GOEBEL USA 3.0 2 2 3 Chengjiang LI CHN 4.5 3 3 4 Alexander ABT RUS 6.5 5 4 5 Takeshi HONDA JPN 7.0 4 5 6 Elvis STOJKO CAN 9.0 6 6 7 Stefan LINDEMANN GER 11.0 8 7 8 Michael WEISS USA 12.5 7 9 9 Vitali DANILCHENKO UKR 13.5 11 8 10 Frederic DAMBIER FRA 15.0 10 10 11 Roman SKORNIAKOV UZB 15.5 9 11 12 Silvio SMALUN GER 18.0 12 12 For further information please contact: Aline Bussat Ingwersen, ISU Media Coordinator Tel: +41 21 612 66 66 Fax: +41 21 612 66 77E-mail: bussat@isu.ch or Sparkassen Cup on Ice Gerd Heydn, Press Officer +49 209 954 32 71 (press room)